ROBERT TYCHKOWSKI, QMI Agency

EDMONTON - If Nikolai Khabibulin doesn’t have an awfully big rebound from last season, and last summer, Devan Dubnyk might have the starting job given to him.

Then again, if this year’s Devan Dubnyk is noticeably better than last year’s Devan Dubnyk, who was pretty good already, he might just reach out and take it.

Or, maybe it’s none of the above, and the position he’s been waiting all his life for will have to wait another year.

Who knows? But of the many questions surrounding the Oilers this season, there are none bigger than starting netminder because if your goaltending isn’t good, nothing is.

Is Khabby too old? Is Dubie too green?

Who’s it going to be on opening night? And, more importantly, who will it be two or three months into the season?

“I’m going to keep an open mind,” said head coach Ton Renney, who watched Dubnyk give up one goal on 19 shots in 31 minutes of work Thursday against Vancouver. “I have to continue to try and grow people here and at the same time we need to win.”

It’s an awkward position for Renney — he’s got a untradable starting goalie with two years left on his $3.75-million contract and a 25-year-old with enormous potential. Both of them need and deserve a chance to prove they can lead this team.

“Dubie is one of those guys who haas a bright future, I certainly don’t want to get in the way of that,” he said. “That being said, I’m going to give Khabby a chance to show very clearly that he can have a bounce-back year, but it’s not going to be at the expense of Dubie. It’ll be a good balance between them.”

To a large degree, they’ll make the decision themselves. Whoever plays better will surely play more.

Dubnyk, who had very good numbers on a very bad team last year (12-13-8 with a 2.71 GAA and .916 save percentge), likes the idea of controlling his own fate.

“Absolutely,” he said. “That’s great for me, I’m happy with that. You’ll feel good about your starts because you know you’ve earned them. You’re in the best league in the world and nothing is ever going to be handed to you. To become a starting goaltender you have to earn every bit of it.

“It would be great to play half the games. Anything more than that is going to be a bonus and it’s going to be entirely up to me.”

By his own personal schedule, Dubnyk is reaching a point where he’s ready and willing to be a team’s No.1 guy.

“I think it’s about that age, 25 to 27 is usually when guys start coming in,” he said. “I feel comfortable physically and mentally to come in and play and like I said, it’s going to be up to me. I’m excited to have the opportunity to play some games this year and I’m looking forward to it.”

He’s well aware that there’s a big difference in pressure and responsibility and required level of consistency between backups and starters. It’s an area he wants to address this year.

“It’s not one out of five games that can be bad, or one out of 10, it has to be one out of 15 or 20 that you’re not right on top of it. You can’t have two or three good games and then let off or nobody’s going to have you as their starting goaltender.”